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Any improvements of the fuel economy with engines are always required for all petroleum fuel vehicles. The goal of such improvements must lead to reduce fuel consumption of the engines. However it may cause some deterioration with riding feeling that is one of the most important characteristics of the motorcycles. Yamaha has developed the strong hybrid motorcycle "HV-X"(hereafter the motorcycle). The motorcycle consists of a 4-stroke 250 cm₃ a cylinder engine and two 300V AC motors with a planetary gear set. The motorcycle reduces fuel consumption without severe influence onto the drive performance by utilizing the electric power.

A strong hybrid system is one of the best solutions to reduce the exhaust of carbon dioxide from vehicles[1]. However it could be believed as being too big and complicated for a motorcycle. Yamaha has developed a unique power unit which consists of an engine, two motors, and a planetary gear drive train in a simple one-room construction with highly stiffened casing. The power unit has been installed onto a proto-type motorcycle called “HV-X”. The HV-X attains 40% or less exhaust of carbon dioxide with no degradation of drive performances, but better acceleration.

We focus on the control issue for engine systems from the perspective of chaos theory, which is based on the fact that engine systems have a low-dimensional chaotic dynamics. Two approaches are discussed: controlling chaos and harnessing chaos, respectively. We apply Pyragas' chaos control method to an actual engine system. The experimental results show that the chaotic motion of an engine system may be stabilized to a periodic motion. Alternatively, harnessing chaos for engine systems is addressed, which regards chaos as an essential dynamic mode for the engine.